The present invention relates generally to a novel system and method for obtaining one or more dimensions of animals or carcasses, and more particularly to a novel system and method for obtaining dimensional measurements of animals or carcasses using infrared imagery.
In the domestic livestock industry it is advantageous to determine various different measurements of animals. For example, in the cattle industry, it is known that the frame size or frame score of an animal can help determine the optimum finish date or slaughter date of the animal. Finish date refers to the point in time in an animal""s growth when its muscling and fat composition are at or near optimum desired levels. However, frame score can be difficult to calculate without accurate measurements of various parts or features of the animal, such as hip height, hip width, animal length, etc.
Rudimentary measuring systems for animals, and in particular cattle, are known in the art. These prior art systems typically use conventional video or still camera technologies to obtain animal measurements. Unfortunately, however, these techniques have various shortcomings. In particular, using conventional imaging, distinguishing the xe2x80x9canimalxe2x80x9d pixels from the xe2x80x9cbackgroundxe2x80x9d pixels is often difficult, especially when measuring a light-colored animal against a light-colored background or a dark-colored animal against a dark-colored background. In such cases, the image of the animal tends to blend into the image of the background, making the measurement difficult.
Moreover, it is very difficult to obtain accurate, repeatable measurements of animals that are moving during the measuring process, and it virtually is impossible to get animals to remain motionless during the process. As one skilled in the art will appreciate, as an animal is moving, the dimension of various features of the animal will appear different depending on the type of movement occurring. Unfortunately, the prior art systems also fail to solve this problem.
Thus, what is needed is a novel system and method for obtaining accurate dimensional measurements of animals and/or animal carcasses.
According to one embodiment of the invention, a system for calculating one or more dimensions of an animal includes at least three fiducial reference points, each having different X, Y, and Z coordinates in 3-dimensional space. In addition, the system further comprises at least two sensors for obtaining dimensional measurements of the fiducial reference points and the animal from at least two different fields of view. In one embodiment, the at least two different fields of view are at least a side view and a top view. The system also comprises a processing system configured to receive the dimensional measurements from the at least two sensors and calculate one or more dimensions of the animal by relating positions of animal features to known locations of the fiducial reference points.
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, the animal may comprise any animal in the animal kingdom, and the one or more dimensions of the animal that are calculated may be the length, width, height or volume of any part of the animal, or any distance between two or more points on the animal. The system also may create and measure a 3-dimensional image of the animal, and the system may be configured to analyze the gait of an animal.
In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, the at least two sensors comprise infrared sensors, which are configured to obtain one or more infrared images of the animal. In accordance with this aspect of the present invention, the infrared images are the dimensional measurements obtained by the sensors. In addition, when using infrared sensors, the fiducial reference points can be heated objects that appear at a different heat level than the animal. In accordance with another embodiment of the invention, temperature gradients of different parts of the animal can be determined by comparing the infrared sensor values to known heat values of the heated fiducial.
In accordance with yet another embodiment of the present invention, the at least two sensors may comprise other image or measurement sensors, such as line scan cameras, laser scanners, rastor scan sensors, video cameras, still pictures, and the like.
Another embodiment of the present invention comprises a method for calculating one or more dimensions of an animal. In accordance with this particular embodiment of the invention, the method comprises determining the specific locations of at least three fiducial reference points, each having different X, Y, and Z coordinates in 3-dimensional space. The method further comprises obtaining dimensional measurements of the animal and of the at least three fiducial reference points using at least two sensors from at least two different fields of view. The method further comprises calculating the one or more dimensions of the animal by relating positions or points of animal features to the known specific locations of the fiducial reference points using triangulation techniques.
A more complete understanding of the present invention may be derived by referring to the detailed description of preferred embodiments and claims when considered in connection with the figures.